The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 23.1

Mile marker: 860

The day begins with a starry night sky (I couldn’t sleep) with a shooting star and a cold that bites my fingers. 

Rafiki, Luxy, and I scramble to get ready with frozen hands. We’re meeting the others up the hill, which is only about half a mile and 300 feet up. 

We find some other cowboy campers laid out on rock like colorful caterpillars. The horizon glows yellow above the snowcapped mountains in the distance. We’re surrounded by a wall of mountain. It’s the same as our camping spot last night — completely engulfed as if I was in a mountain fishbowl. 

We catch the others as we go up. Together, we continue up the hill until we reach a river. The big rock is spaced out just enough that I have to crawl up on the boulder and collect myself before moving to the next one. 

The path is one of rocks and splotches of green grass. Giant snow patches are along the side of the trail. Dad told me to follow the map closely when navigating this section, so we all wander around the obstructed path for a bit. 

When snow covers the path, that means a new path must be formed. Either the path is formed through the snow, or it’s formed by walking on different areas of the terrain (the rock, in this case.)

Some put on their spikes for walking through snow. I do not. I feel pretty confident as I walk through. Sometimes the bootprints I’m stepping in are slick, but I’m trying to keep three points of contact between my feet and trekking poles. 

Too bad I lost a tip on my trekking pole already. The snow has a lumpy pattern that looks like ocean waves from far away. It’s pretty hard at the moment. As soon as the sun melts it, it will turn to slush. 

We hike up the loose rock path until we reach the hut. On the inside, the stone pattern swirls upwards. There are benches around the perimeter of the hut. My group sits around the inside, joined by Jan (pronounced YAHN), a German hiker friend who I met at Grumpy’s in Kennedy Meadows. He’s a guy about my age with sneaky eyes, a big smile, and a wild personality. 

Outside, the mountains are wrapped around us with a couple of blue lakes at the bottom. 

It’s so rugged out here. Just broken rocks everywhere! 

We descend and walk past an incredibly blue lake. The river we cross is full of smooth circular rocks. Rafiki rock hops like Johnny Depp in The Pirates of the Caribbean. We’re all giggling as we watch him jump across the river with a flare. 

We pass through majestic rushing rivers that foam white as they move. We’re walking through an incredible space that overlooks a stunning lake. 

We pause for lunch in a little nook and rest a while. The water is glittering as the sun comes out to tease us. 

Soon we’re on our way again. Savannah and Lucy went ahead, but I was still finishing packing so Rafiki and I stuck together for the last half of the bike. We still have 14 miles to go. 

It was a long hike. 

It’s beautiful out here, with corners that turn and give us Mountain views. The river seems to explode with beauty as we walk across bridges. 

As we hike up the last bit, the mosquitos come out for battle. 

I’m pressing hard through the mosquitos. 

“They’re all over you!” Rafiki says. 

I’m out of breath but I keep pushing. 

One thing does distract me, though. 

A little rodent is paused on a rock — maybe terrified I’m standing over him. He’s gray with clay brown on his wide hands. 

We press on and find the others setting up the tents. 

We join them for dinner, fending off the mosquitos. 

“Wake me up tomorrow morning!” Jan has joined us again. 

“We’ll just send someone to jump in the tent with you,” I joke. 

“I am under-cuddled!” Jan says to Luxy in his thick German accent. 

“Oh, we’ll send Bumper in with you, in that case.” 

Jan smiles with his sly eyes and buds us goodnight. 

We settle into bed and soon are off to sleep for another big day tomorrow.